NHL DFS Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings (4/23): Value Plays, Goalies, Stacks

Welcome, RotoBallers. Hockey season is back and I am thrilled to be covering this sport over at RotoBaller! As always, I will do my best to give you the stats and info you need to build the best lineups possible for your GPP and cash game NHL contests on DraftKings and FanDuel.

If you are new to playing NHL DFS, there are several things to know that will help you get caught up to speed. The first thing to know is that stacking lines is important and correlating your plays can pay off. In hockey, if someone scores a goal, there's a good chance that some on his team will receive an assist on that goal, so you want to build lineups around players skating together. The second thing is to make sure you look at the two sites and see the different ways to obtain points. On DraftKings, you get bonus points for 5+ shots or 3+ blocked shots so someone like Alex Ovechkin who is a volume shooter tends to be a better play there just because he can rack up additional points based on his style of play.

Today I'll be bringing you my NHL lineup picks, analysis, and advice for NHL DFS contests on DraftKings and FanDuel for Friday, April 23rd, 2020 at 7:00 PM. Be sure to also check out our awesome NHL tools including our Lineup Optimizer, Research Station, Projections, and DFS Cheat Sheets! Feel free to follow me on Twitter @jorgepucks as I am happy to engage with readers and try to answer your questions. Good luck RotoBallers!

NHL DFS Analysis and Picks for 4/23

• • Boston Bruins (-295) vs. Buffalo Sabres - 5.5U
  • Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Rangers (-143) - 6.5U
  • Nashville Predators (-129) vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 5.5U
  • Montreal Canadiens (-118) vs. Calgary Flames (-103) - 5.5U
  • Minnesota Wild (-157) vs. Los Angeles Kings - 5.5U

NHL DFS Goalie Analysis Matrix

The matrix above takes the averages of four categories and creates a rating scale to help you decide which goalies to use, which goalies to target against, and conversely which teams could be viable from a stacking standpoint. It looks at four categories: Goals Allowed (GA), Shots Allowed (SA), Goals For (GF), Shots For (SF). The higher the overall rating in the total column indicates that it is a more dangerous matchup for that team's goalie while it might be beneficial to stack against him. If the total is low, that means he is in a good matchup from a fantasy perspective and should be considered for your goalie selection. I match and sync this every day to the actual opponents that they are facing every slate so this is always slate specific.

NHL DFS Power Play Matrix

The Power Play matrix is to help locate matchups that can be exploited should there be an odd-man advantage during the game. Just like the goalie matrix above, the teams are matched up based on their own power play percentage rank and their opponent's penalty kill percentage rank. When looking at this matrix, you will want to look for teams that succeed in the power play rank (lower the rank the better they are) while their opponent has a poor penalty kill rank (the higher the rank, the worse their penalty kill is).

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NHL DFS Core Plays

The Core plays below are the players that you should focus on incorporating into your cash game builds and tournament builds. When it comes to cash games, you want guys that offer high floors that rack up peripheral stats (shots, blocks, etc).

When it comes to tournaments, it is best to take a core play and see who their linemates are and build line stacks based on that. I will give 2-3 plays (varies on slate size) at each position at different pricing ranges so that you can have a variety of plays to choose from when building your cash builds or needing cornerstones for your tournament builds.

NHL DFS Center Picks

• Mika Zibanejad, NYR ($7,500 DK / $7,900 FD) - Zibanejad has been extremely dominant against the Flyers this season as he has recorded seven goals and eight assists in just seven total games this season. He is in really good form as he has recorded seven points over his last five games and is averaging over three peripheral stats per game during that stretch.
• Mikael Backlund, CGY ($5,500 DK/ $4,500 FD) - If you're wanting someone with a very solid floor, Backlund could be your guy. He is averaging over three peripheral stats per game over his last four games and has scored a point in four of his last five games. Backlund has scored two goals and recorded one assist in six games against the Canadiens and is averaging close to four peripheral stats per game against them.

Other centers to consider: 

• High Priced- Bergeron, Kopitar, Strome Lindolm
• Mid-Tier- Eriksson Ek, Suzuki, Monahan
• Value- Suter, Granlund, Dach, Danault

NHL DFS Forward Picks

• Alex DeBrincat, CHI ($7,300 DK / $7,200 FD) - DeBrincat has fared well against the Predators this season as he has scored three goals in five games while taking 15 shots on goal. DeBrincat leads the Blackhawks with 23 goals so the goal-scoring upside is there in this matchup.
• Chris Kreider, CAR ($5,500 DK / $5,900 FD) - Krieder is a little bit of a riskier play for cash games but he does have upside in this matchup. Kreider has three goals and two assists in six games against the Flyers and with how well the Rangers have done against Philly this year, he gets you exposure to their top forward line and top power-play line at a reasonable cost.

Other wings to consider: 

• High Priced- Pastrnak, Kane, Marchand, Panarin, Kaprizov, Buchnevich
• Mid-Tier- Iafallo, Zuccarello, Hall, Kempe, Kubalik
• Value- Smith, Tolvanen, Parise, Strome, Duchene

NHL DFS Defenseman Picks

• Adam Fox, NYR ($6,700 DK / $5,900 FD) - The theme of using Rangers against the Flyers continues as Adam Fox also looks to be in a great spot against Philly. Fox has recorded eight assists in five games against the Flyers and has been able to generate 24 peripheral stats so if he can continue his assist and four peripherals per game rate, he will easily crush value.
• Ryan Ellis, NSH ($4,800 DK / $3,900 FD) - Ellis is finally finding his stride from a DFS perspective. He has recorded 22 peripheral stats over his last five games despite only recording one point in that stretch of games. In four games against the Blackhawks this season, Ellis has recorded one point but has racked up over 10 blocked shots and six shots on goal so if he continues to rack up the peripheral stats, he is extremely viable in cash games.

Other defensemen to consider: 

• High Priced- Josi, Giordano
• Mid-Tier- Doughty, Weber, Grzelcyk, Dumba
• Value- Keith, Ekholm, Chiarot, Suter, Stone

NHL DFS Goalie Picks

• Tuukka Rask, BOS ($8,400 DK / $8,200 FD) - Rostering goalies against Buffalo seems to be a viable strategy so going back to the Boston well could the move on this five-game strategy. Jeremy Swayman got the nod in the net on Thursday so it seems like Tuukka Rask could be the one to draw the start on Friday. Rask has won three straight games and has faced the Sabres once and in that lone start, he stopped all 32 shots that he faced and recorded a shutout. With how tight these matchups are, paying up for Rask could be the safest goalie option on the slate.
• Calvin Petersen, LAK ($7,200 DK / $6,900 FD) - The game between the Wild and the Kings looks to be one of the tightest ones on the slate, and if needing to save some salary, you can choose to pay down and roster Petersen. Petersen is 1-0-1 against the Wild as he has stopped 70 out of 75 total shots faced. The one thing that really stands out in favor of Petersen is that he has a2.48 goals allowed average and a .923 save percentage in all home games this season. While it is a riskier play, Petersen is one of the better cheaper options and should see a solid volume of shots which makes him viable in all formats.

Other goalies to consider: 

• High Priced- Georgiev
• Mid-Tier- Rinne
• Value- Markstrom

Note: If you do roster a goalie listed above, it is sometimes best to make a hedge lineup in tournaments and take the opposing offense against them in case he gives up a few goals while that opposing team carries lower ownership. Also, make sure that the goalie listed above is starting and if not, make sure to pivot!

Favorite NHL DFS Line Stacks 

• BOS 1  
  • Marchand/ Bergeron/ Pastrnak (Grzelcyk, d-men add on)
    • The top Bruins line is coming off of a dominant performance against the Sabres on Thursday night and look to be one of, if not, the top stack yet again on this slate. They sported a 75% corsi in eight minutes of ice time at 5v5 and generated three goals for and two scoring chances. In 41 minutes of ice time at 5v5, the Bergeron line has scored four goals while generated 20 scoring chances for and eight high-danger chances. While stacking all three skaters could be a challenge due to salary constraints, it could definitely pay off in this matchup.
• NSH 1  
  • Tolvanen/ Johansen/ Arvidsson (Josi, d-men add on) 
    • Earlier in the week, we saw this same matchup and it turned into a high-scoring affair. The top Preds line looked really good and it definitely benefited as the Blackhawks will mixing and shuffling lines around all game long. They saw over 10 minutes of ice time and were able to generate eight scoring chances and five high-danger opportunities which tied for a team-high for Nashville. Nashville is 6-3-1 over their last 10 games so if there is ever a time to start rostering them, it would be now as they are in great form and are trying to hold off the Blackhawks and Stars for the fourth and final playoff spot from the Central division.

Other Stacks to consider: NYR 1, LAK 1, CGY 1, BOS 2, NSH 3

Key Abbreviations:

xGF/60= expected goal for per 60 minutes of ice time

GF/60= goals for per 60 minutes of ice time

SC/60= Scoring Chances per 60 minutes of ice time

If you have any additional questions, make sure to reach out to me on Twitter or in our NHL room at the RotoBaller slack chat!

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